


A Little Nudge

by Sally0



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awkward Crush, Bisexual Peter Parker, Bisexual Tony Stark, Coming Out, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Secret Crush, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 09:11:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15992141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sally0/pseuds/Sally0
Summary: Tony accidentally discovers two of Peter’s personal secrets, without Peter knowing. Weeks later, when it becomes obvious that Peter wants to share one of them with Tony, but is greatly struggling, Tony “helps” him in a very Tony-like way. Much embarrassment and fluff ensues.





	A Little Nudge

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm super late to the MCU party. IW was my first time seeing the Iron Dad/Spider-Son relationship, and now I'm hooked. This is my first fic of (hopefully) many in this fandom.

_Buzz/ding!_

Tony looks up from his soldering, pursing his lips in irritation.

_Buzz/ding!_

Now he’s scowling. He’s told Peter to always silence his phone in the lab. His text alert sound is annoying on the best of days. It’s especially obnoxious today, when Tony already has a headache. But the kid’s in the washroom (what kind of teenager forgets his phone when he goes to the washroom?) and some friend of his chose that exact moment to start texting nonstop. Probably Ed.

_Buzz/ding! Buzz/ding!_

That does it. Tony grumbles and gets up to silence the phone himself. When he reaches Peter’s table, the phone’s lock screen is still lit up with the recently-received messages. He doesn’t mean to look, but before his hand touches the phone, his own name catches his eye in one of the texts.

_MJ: Sorry, just seeing your messages now._

_MJ: So you’re finally telling Tony Stark you’re bi? Way to go!_

_MJ: But you’re not telling him you’ve got a pathetic fanboy crush on him, ofc_

_MJ: Not telling him how you want him to bend you over a workbench in his lab and…_

Tony’s stomach drops. That last message is truncated, thank goodness. He looks away, anywhere but at the phone. For a moment, he doesn’t know what to think or how to feel.

He slowly takes a breath and forces himself to relax.

In hindsight, the first revelation isn’t a complete surprise; now that Tony thinks about it, he has gotten the odd hint here and there that the kid isn’t entirely hetero, though he’d brushed it off at the time and quickly forgotten. Actually, he’s rather touched now to learn that the kid is planning to confide in him.

As for those last two messages, Tony knows he shouldn’t feel too shocked. He’s perfectly aware that half the teenage girls in America, and a smaller percentage of teenage boys, have daydreams featuring the Iron Man in some…indecorous scenarios. He just didn’t expect _Peter_ to be one of them.

He’s not sure what to do at the moment, but he does know he doesn’t want Peter knowing he’s seen the messages. He returns to his soldering, his back to Peter’s table.

A few minutes later, Peter returns from the washroom. In the reflection in the helmet on Tony’s desk, he sees Peter look at his phone and then very quickly glance up at the back of Tony’s head, trying to tell if Tony has seen the texts. The phone dings with the arrival of yet another text.

“Kid, how many times have I told you to silence that thing in here? Especially today; you know I’m hungover.” He puts effort into injecting the usual level of dry annoyance into his tone.

“Sorry, Mr. Stark.” Peter sounds relieved. He doesn’t suspect that his mentor knows anything. He silences the phone and puts it in his bag.

Tony says nothing. He needs to process things and figure out where to go from here.

After Peter leaves for the evening, Tony realizes Peter didn’t come out to him as he had apparently told MJ he would.

 

* * *

The following week, Tony acts as casually as he can when Peter arrives at the lab. He’s been worrying all week about what to do if the kid starts acting flustered or distracted around him, or can’t work efficiently.

But the kid seems to be his usual self. His calculations are immaculate as always, his attempts at smalltalk no more awkward than usual.

Suddenly Tony realizes that Peter’s “fanboy crush” must have started a while before Tony saw the text messages, and he never noticed the kid behaving any differently back then. He supposes the kid is just good at putting his life’s distractions on hold when he’s in work mode. He and Tony have a lot in common, Tony thinks with a smile.

Peter still doesn’t come out to Tony that day. Tony’s a bit disappointed. Kid doesn’t trust him? Or maybe just got cold feet. Tony isn’t going to push it.

Anyway, he’s got his own quandary to think about.

 

* * *

After a month, Tony feels pretty much back to normal. The kid isn’t acting weird, and he still doesn’t know that Tony saw the texts.

But he sure would like it if Peter would come out to him already. He has a lot of things to say to him, about that and some other new developments, if the kid would give him a chance.

Peter arrives at his usual time and they work in silence for a while. Until finally:

“M-Mr. Stark?” His voice sounds small and unsure. Well, more than it usually does, anyway.

Tony swivels around a little too quickly to face the boy. “Yeah?”

“C-Can I talk to you?”

 _About time!_ thinks Tony. _Just be cool, let him say it in his own time._

“Sure, what’s up?”

But now that Peter has Tony’s attention, all his courage seems to vaporize. He turns into a stammering mess. “I-I…well, I mean…it’s not a big deal, I just w-wanted to…”

Tony resists rolling his eyes. It’s 2018; surely it should be easier to come out these days than it was when Tony was the kid’s age.

Apparently not for Peter, though. He appears to shrink, getting more nervous the longer Tony watches him.

“You know what? It’s nothing. It can wait. I should really finish this work.”

Tony approaches Peter’s workstation and fixes him with a gentle but penetrating gaze.

“Pete.” _Just say it_ , he silently urges.

Peter gulps. “Actually, is that the time? I-I can’t stay. I’ve got a thing with my aunt. Sorry.” He zips up his bag.

 _Screw it,_ Tony decides. _I've never been all that patient anyway._

Peter is taking a step toward the door. “See you next–”

“You’re bisexual.”

Peter freezes. His face pales, and the bookbag falls out of his hand. Tony points at the stool, and Peter collapses onto it, gaping up at Tony in utter shock and confusion. Well, he doesn’t look directly _at_ Tony, but off to the side slightly, as if he can’t meet his mentor’s eye.

“I – _how do you know that?”_

“I’m very perceptive about this kind of thing. I’m a genius, remember? I can sense things that others can’t.”

“You saw those texts from MJ that day, didn’t you?”

“Yeah I did, sorry. Your phone wouldn’t stop buzzing and I went to silence it.”

Peter’s eyes suddenly grow wide. “So…you also saw…”

“I did, yes. Very much so.”

Peter’s face flushes about as red as his Spider-Man suit. “Oh. Ohh, fuck.”

“Hey, language!”

“Oh God. OK, uh, I have to go. I really have to go now.” He jumps up from his stool.

“Nooo you don’t!” Tony sings, grasping Peter’s upper arm as the kid starts walking away, causing him to walk in a circle and end up back at the stool. Tony sits him down and pulls up another stool for himself. “We’re going to talk about this now. I’ve got some things to say.”

Peter looks like he’s silently imploring the floor to open up and swallow him whole, but remains in his seat.

“Look, kid. I’ve had a month to process what I read in those texts. And I’ve decided, I don’t care. I mean I never would’ve cared about the bisexual thing. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. _At all_. Anyway I suspected it long before seeing the text.”

Peter finally looks at Tony. “You did?”

“Yeah. I’m perceptive, remember? Pure genius, this brain of mine. Plus I saw the way you stared at Dr. Strange’s ass when he left the room after that meeting two months ago.”

Peter closes his eyes and groans, turning even redder.

“But look, I said I don’t care about that. I really don’t. And you shouldn’t either. It’s not the kind of thing you should feel you have to keep secret. Especially from me. Got it?”

Peter hesitates, then tentatively nods.

Tony takes a breath before continuing. He’s been planning what to say next for weeks, but it’s still hard to talk face-to-face with the kid about this. “And about the other thing…you having feelings for me…”

Peter crosses his arms on the table and buries his face in them, humiliated.

“Hey hey, c’mon, sit up. Can’t you see I’m trying to make you feel better?” Tony nudges the kid’s shoulder to make him lift his head. He does, but fixes his eyes on his knees. Good enough, Tony decides. “OK then. So, about those other texts. You know what? I’ve realized I don’t care about that either. I did at first. Hoo-boy did I ever. But not for the reason you think. Not because I think it’s wrong, or I’m ‘grossed out’ or anything like that. I’m not. You’re a teenager; you’re allowed to have crushes. That’s your private business and I wasn’t supposed to find out. But I was worried it would affect your work. That it would be a distraction. But I’ve been watching you for a month, and you’ve been working as hard as ever. Whatever’s going on in that head of yours, you seem really good at compartmentalizing it. So really, I’m genuinely not bothered.” Peter finally looks up at his mentor. Tony half-smiles before continuing. “And besides, you’re young. You’ll get over it eventually. Especially since there’s no chance in hell that you and I will ever, ever, ever, ever–”

“I get it, Mr. Stark.”

“–ever, _ever_ get together.”

“I know, I know,” Peter laughs. He’s finally starting to relax. “Thanks for not freaking out over it. But you know, MJ was kind of exaggerating in that text. Just trying to embarrass me. I never said anything like…that…to her.” He blushes slightly at the memory of her texts and the fact that Tony saw them. “As a matter of fact, on that subject, I actually am. Over it. You. I mean.”

Tony is taken aback. “Already?”

“Well, yeah. It’s been over a month. I’ve moved on.”

Tony almost feels disappointed. “Huh. You kids, you jump from one thing to the next so much faster than when I was your age. Jeez, I was in love with Mary Tyler Moore for like four years.”

Peter smiles.

“So why didn't you stop me when I was saying all those things just now about not minding how you feel, and compartmentalizing and all that?”

“It’s OK. You spent so long preparing that speech, I had to let you finish it.”

“...You could tell I rehearsed it?”

“A bit, yeah.”

“Oh.”

They look at each other and laugh. Tony’s laugh fades quickly, though. There’s still one more subject he needs to get out into the open. He clears his throat.

“Oh and one last thing, kid. Keep your eyes off Stephen’s ass from now on. He’s mine.”

Peter’s jaw drops.

“You and _Dr. Strange?”_

Tony looks nonchalant. “That’s right.”

“You’re–”

“Bisexual, yes. That a problem?”

Peter shakes his head in mild shock. “I can’t believe it! Since when?”

Tony rubs the back of his neck. “Actually I kind of have you to thank for that.” Now he looks away, slightly embarrassed. He hasn’t rehearsed this part at all. “I’d been waiting weeks for you to come out to me, and wondering why you wouldn’t…But then I realized how hypocritical it was of me to expect that of you while I was wasting away over here refusing to do the same. So I finally did some, I don’t know, call it soul-searching, and I decided to acknowledge a part of myself that I’ve kept locked away for a long time. Since I was about your age, actually. So I told the team. All of them. They’re a supportive bunch. You should consider doing the same. Don’t get me wrong; your secret’s safe with me as long as you want it to be. I’m just saying, if you want to tell them, it’ll be fine.”

Peter just stares, processing everything he’s just heard. “Wow, Mr. Stark–”

“Uh, yeah, I _kinda_ think we’re a bit past ‘Mr. Stark’ at this point, kid.”

“Right. Tony. I think I will tell them. Soon.” He looks Tony in the eye. “As long as you let _me_ be the one to say it.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well you kind of stole my thunder earlier.”

“You were going to chicken out! I had my own news to tell you but it kind of had to segue from yours, so you needed to say your part first. But I could tell you were never going to get there on your own, so I…gave you a little nudge.”

“ _Nudge?_ You opened the door and shoved me through it.”

“Eh, tomato, tomahto.” He smiles down at his protégé. “Fine. Next time you’re suffering from massive teenage angst over some _terribly_ burdensome secret that redefines your identity, I won’t say a word until you’re ready. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“OK, then.” Tony leans toward Peter and stretches out his arm. Peter looks at the table behind him for whatever tool Tony must be reaching for.

“The Robertson head?” He picks up the screwdriver.

“No, I’m trying to hug you, kid. Just–”

“Oh. Sorry, I–”

“I think we’re there now.”

He wraps his arms around the kid's shoulders, and Peter returns the hug, his eyes welling up slightly.

Tony stands up and pats Peter on the back. “OK, enough of the mushy gushy stuff. Back to work now. I want the solution for those flaps worked out before you go today.”

 

* * *

Half an hour later, Peter leaves to use the washroom. He’s gone less than twenty seconds before–

_Buzz/ding! Buzz/ding!_

This time, the messages are from Ned:

_Ned: We still on for Friday?_

_Ned: My parents leave at 8. You bring the food, I’ll bring the beer. MJ thinks she can get some Cuban cigars to try!_

Tony sees none of this, however. As soon as he hears the first ding, he reaches over without looking and flips the damned phone face-down.

“Nope. I don’t wanna know.”

 


End file.
